While Hollywood converting a film to 3D is barely news anymore, it’s been announced that both M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender and Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet will be getting the post-production three-dimensional treament. While the jury’s still out on whether the technology for post-production 3D is up to the task (with most leaning towards saying it’s not), after Clash Of The Titans cleaned up at the box office, it’s little wonder the studios are looking at what else they can shove out with cardboard cutout 3D people.
While the change won’t affect the release of The Last Airbender, which is still due out July 2nd in the US and August 13th in the UK, Sony is claiming the 3D conversion is what’s pushing The Green Hornet from a plump December 22nd release into the graveyard of January 2011. Although it’ll still get a holiday weekend in the US – the Martin Luther King Memorial Day one – it’s certainly a big demotion from Christmas.
The idea that it’s the 3D that’s made them take this decision is also a little dubious. The film was already delayed from July to December, which suggests there should be plenty of time to put in the extra dimension. However, recently there have been a lot of rumours saying that the studio is unhappy with Gondry’s work on the film, with some even saying they think its a disaster. While Sony is officially saying they’re delighted with how things are going, moving the release to January, which is normally seen as a dumping ground for underachieving studio films (as well as Oscar fodder), does suggest they don’t have much faith in it.
That said it is true the film with have less 3D competition then (Tron Legacy and Yogi Bear will both be in cinemas in December) and as anything three-dimensional has been raking in the cash recently, it may actually be a smart move.